Customer Reviews

Welcome 2 My Nightmare: Fan Pack

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Comes with new CD with several additional cuts from the cd available in stores alone. CD is in a small hard bound book and nicer than liner notes typically in CDs, though content basically the same.
Magazine that comes with the package is from Britain. Very well done with a lot of behind the scenes, going from the early days with the band to present day. Great photos and 1-2 page interviews with the original band as well as Bob Ezrin, one of the biggest influences in Alice Cooper's colabrative efforts.
Included is a pin, a folded poster, a punch out face mask as well as the CD, magazine and CD booklet.
One criticism is the packaging. The pin created dents and impressions in the paper materials. The blister pack with the CD was crushed and the corners of the envelope that contains the package was dented and creased. Amazon sent me a replacement but it wasn't much better. The shrink wrap that everything is bound in doesn't help as it only compresses the package more than needed for further creasing. This problem needs to be resolved for collectors.
Outstanding apart from the packaging issue.

This fan pack by Classic Rock Magazine is beautiful. It is stuffed with photos and other content including interviews with Alice, Rob Zombie, Ezrin, band members and even Ke$ha. It also contains two posters, a pin, and the album Welcome 2 My Nightmare in an extra large digipack.

The magazine is gorgeous, full colour, and covers the entire career of Alice. Every album is reviewed (in a very biased fashion though) and there are pictures from every era. Kip Winger? Check. Kane Roberts? Check. Steve Hunter? Check.

There'a a cardboard Alice mask (just in time for Halloween), the very nice School's Out pin, and an Alice Cooper makeup kit. This set is great value for the money.

What it lacks are bonus tracks. It is disappointing, since the two bonus tracks here ("Poison" live and "Under the Bed") are billed as exclusives, but are available on almost every version of the album!

But, at long last, we have Welcome 2 My Nightmare. Yes, it really does harken back to the Alice Cooper sound of old. Yes, you can definitely tell when members of the original band are playing. Yes, these songs are very diverse. In fact Alice's sounds from many eras are revisited: disco Alice, rocker Alice, campy showtunes Alice, a slight nod and a wink to the stone ages and some Zappa-like inspiration. There's even surf-rock in "Ghouls Gone Wild", and elsewhere, a Kip Winger cameo. Unfortunately there also a bit of a modern touch: an unfortunate cameo by talentless musical saboteur, Kesha, and some electronic effects that I wasn't too into.

Regardless, Alice and Ezrin (let's give credit where credit is due, Ezrin is the George Martin of this album) have created here a modern masterpiece, a great record to cap Alice's modern career with one more undenialble winner. Welcome 2 My Nightmare contains a few musical interludes and clues from the first Nightmare, particurly "Steven", but it's mostly it's own beast. It is surprisingly listener-friendly, very melodic and 70's sounding with plenty of instrumentation and production value.

The prime influence here seems to be musicals and showtunes. And that's fine with me. Alice knows he's doing and sneers his way through these snappy numbers. Everything builds and changes and builds again, each song is constructed masterfully. Alice and Ezrin know what they're doing. Don't forget these are the guys who did "Gutter Cat Vs. The Jets" back in 1972.

My favourite tune: The Tom Waits-ish "The Last Man on Earth", a 1930's sounding showtune-esque classic, along the lines of Alice's previous song "Crazy Little Child" from Muscle of Love.

Second favourite: "The Underture", which reprises the greatest musical themes from both Nightmare albums in one grandios outro.

One really important thing I want to mention: This is the most fun Alice Cooper has been in while. Welcome 2 has humour and the musical chops to make the album a fun listen from start to back. Whether you like albums such as Brutal Planet or Along Came A Spider, they're not albums to make you chuckle along while you snap your fingers. Welcome 2 My Nightmare, like the original Nightmare from 1975, is a lot more fun.

And now, for the collectors, a word about the bonus tracks on this version.

"Poison" is a recent live track from the Download Festival. "Under The Bed", an excellent song that fits right in near the beginning of the story, is also a bonus track on the this edition. Great song. Don't know why it's not in the main body of the album, since it has recurring musical themes in it and fits with the story!

5 stars!